Posts by Olin Lathrop
I found this beautiful Round Lobed Hepatica (Anemone americana) in the wild in Groton Massachusetts on 23 April 2020. The flower almost seemed to glow against the leaf litter of the forest floor.
Diogmites on Manzanita 25 Jul 2005, Tonto National Forest, Arizona. I was hiking the Highline Trail below the Mogollon Rim when I came to an area with a lot of manzanita, just west of Horton Sprin...
Yesterday a user posted two picture identification questions with no apparent prior research. The same user did this a couple of months ago too. At that time, I spent a few minutes with Google Ea...
It is impossible to put a number on this because it depends on specifics of the device that are hard to know. How often does the device sample the GPS position? What is the noise on those positio...
Adirondack park is large, especially by northeast US standards. There are quite a number of roads, from main paved roads to lesser paved roads, to good dirt roads, etc. There is something for eve...
I found the picture below in a stash of things that belonged to my father. My father served in the US army during WWII in the signal corps. He was referred to unofficially as a "radio repairman" ...
The open range 14 Aug 2013, on route 216 in western New Mexico.
It is impossible to put a number on this. There are way too many variables that effect when a burned tree might fall over: Did it only get burned enough to cook the cambium layer and kill the tree...
A backpack bounces around too much when running. You need something tight-fitting and light. A vest with a few pockets is a lot better at that than a pack.
This isn't a direct answer to your question, but there are very few roads in the White Mountains that are open to the public that can't be used by passenger cars. A Subaru Forester would certainly...
The most official document for the US is Forest Service Trail Accessibility Guidelines. There is no simple single number for maximum grade. Your are allowed steeper grade for shorter lengths, and ...
Yes, that picture does indeed seem to be taken from White Salmon, WA. Specifically, it seems to be taken from one of the hills above the east end of White Salmon, as can be seen here around the ce...
This road looks too hazardous and narrow for automobiles, because there's no fence! What kind of road is this? Solely for pedestrians? That's clearly an automobile road. Having a steep dropoff on...
Before I saw this question, I had no idea the term stealth camping existed, but I have definitely done it a number of times, just backpacking, with a bike, and with a car. Yes, it's possible to do...
A "rule" here is pointless. It matters what you feel like, and what the consequences are of getting the remaining layers wet. Your body will tell you whether it is too hot or too cold at the momen...
Waters colliding This is the picture I really wanted to post, but I thought it wouldn't make any sense without the context provided by my other picture. Since the contest rules only allow one pic...
Alive with Color Groton Massachusetts, 18 Oct 2014.
Personally I want to be as unobtrusive in the wilderness as possible. There seems to be a lot of focus on, even fanatical devotion to, leave no trace. While bright colors aren't technically leavi...
Unlike with most predators, running away works if you can get far enough fast enough. The bull chasing you can run faster than you, but the reason he's chasing you in the first place is only becau...
The tent. Whatever you are tying the hammock to is obviously sticking up a bit. Let's assume trees. Things that stick up are more likely to be hit by lightning. Since the hammock needs to be ti...
Today GPS systems are relatively cheap and widely available. You don't even need a dedicated GPS receiver. For example, I often use a Android tablet with a built-in GPS, and software that can rec...
Seals appear at various times in various places on Cape Cod. There isn't a guaranteed time and place to see seals, but some spots are better than others. For example, this picture was taken at He...
It sounds like you are referring to a pedometer. These things basically count footsteps or strides. The purpose is usually to infer distance walked or hiked, although there is some error in going...
The vast majority of picnic sites are available on a first-come first-served basis. This is true across the many local, state, and federal agencies that provide picnic sites. These sites are for ...
Look at the surrounding terrain and think what water would do when it rains. No place is perfectly flat for very long, so suface water will flow away from some place and gather in others. Somepla...
